Federal Agency for Atomic Energy of Russia

The headquarters of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency in Moscow

The Federal Atomic Energy Agency of Russia ( Russian Федеральное агентство по атомной энергии России , Federalnoje agentstwo po atomnoi energii Rossii ), also abbreviated to Rosatom ( Russian Росатомale ), is a Russian federal authority. It heads the civil and military nuclear industry in the country and controls 151 production and research facilities in the nuclear sector. According to estimates by experts in the European Parliament , the agency controls 98 percent of the nuclear material in Russia. It is based in the capital Moscow . Rosatom reports directly to the Russian government .

history

The Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation ( Russian Министерство по атомной энергии Росси́йской Федерации , abbreviated Minatom, Russian Минатом ) was founded on January 29, 1992 as the successor to the relevant Soviet Nuclear Industry Ministry. It was transformed into the Federal Atomic Energy Agency of Russia on March 9, 2004.

Yevgeny Adamov headed the agency from 1998 to 2001 and was dismissed by Vladimir Putin in 2001 on suspicion of corruption . His successor was Alexander Rumyantsev . Sergei Kiriyenko headed the agency from 2005 to September 2016 . Alexej Likhachev has been the agency's general director since October 2016.

Mission and organization

The authority heads - rather unusual for Western standards - both the civil and the military fields of nuclear energy. It reports to research centers, institutes and companies that deal with the planning, manufacture and maintenance of nuclear weapons . It is also responsible for the disposal of nuclear substances in the military sector and is responsible for the closed cities within the military nuclear industry.

Among other things, Rosatom manages the following companies:

Atomflot ( Russian Атомфлот ), operates the Russian atomic icebreaker
Atomenergoprom ( Russian Атомэнергопром )
- Atomenergomash ( Russian Атомэнергомаш ), builds reactors
  - OKB Gidropress ( Russian ОКБ Гидропресс )
  - OKBM ( Russian ОКБМ )
- Atomstroiexport ( Russian Атомстройэкспорт ), builds nuclear power plants inside and outside Russia
  - Atomic Energy Project ( Russian Атомэнергопроект ), designs nuclear power plants like the AES-91 and AES-92

Foreign trade

Russian nuclear exports amount to the equivalent of around 3.5 billion US dollars a year, according to a representative of the agency in September 2005. A large part will be achieved through the construction of nuclear power plants in Iran , India and China , as well as the delivery of nuclear power Fuel to Eastern Europe.

China

In China, Rosatom is involved in the Tianwan nuclear power plant .

Iran

In November 2014, Rosatom and Iran decided to build four new reactors in the Persian Gulf at the Bushehr nuclear power plant and four more at an as yet undefined location.

India

In December 2014, Rosatom and India agreed to build at least 12 reactors in at least two power plants for the next 20 years. Furthermore, cooperations in third countries were agreed.

Hungary

On January 14, 2014, Rosatom signed a contract with the Hungarian state energy utility MVM for the construction of two reactor blocks at the Paks nuclear power plant . The two reactor blocks should each have an output of around 1200 megawatts. Completion is expected in 2023. Since it is only a matter of modernization and expansion in Hungary, the permit requirement from Brussels could be avoided. 80 percent of the total costs of 12 billion euros are financed by Russian loans with a loan term until 2045.

Perspectives

In June 2006, Sergei Kirijenko spoke out in favor of founding a nationwide nuclear company. Russia must be able to compete with transnational corporations like Toshiba and Siemens . As a model he named the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom ; the new company could be called Atomomrom . He clearly rejected the privatization of the nuclear industry. In the civil sector, stock corporations will be set up, but with a hundred percent state participation.

The agency had already announced in February 2006 that it wanted to build a total of 40 new nuclear reactors by 2030 . This would require an investment of around 60 billion US dollars. The aim is to increase the share of nuclear power from the current 17 to 18 percent to around 25 percent in 2030. Kiriyenko said that from 2007 to 2015, Russia plans to build two new reactors a year. From 2012 to 2020, two reactors are to start operating annually. Existing systems should be modernized. Russia is working on the development of new reactors that should be comparable to Western reactors in terms of safety. The Russian Agency for Atomic Energy is also betting on the introduction of fast breeder reactors . According to Germany Trade and Invest , the financing of the investments is not yet secured.

In addition to nuclear energy, Rosatom is now also focusing on expanding wind energy . For this purpose, a subcontractor called SC NovaWind was founded in 2017 . So z. For example, a wind farm with a capacity of 450 MW will be built by 2021 .